Animal Health in the World - Overview

One of OIE’s missions is to ensure transparency in and enhance knowledge of the worldwide animal health situation. Among the formal obligations of OIE Member Countries is the submission of information on the relevant animal disease situation – including on zoonoses present on their territory - in the most timely and transparent way. A single OIE list of notifiable terrestrial and aquatic animal diseases has been established for this purpose and to accomplish its mandate in this respect, the OIE created and manages the World Animal Health Information System (WAHIS) which is coupled with WAHIS interface, providing information on 117 diseases listed for 2015. WAHIS Interface provides public access to all data regarding OIE-Listed diseases, held into WAHIS database as soon as they are validated by the OIE. This extensive database is a cornerstone in OIE efforts to improve the transparency, efficiency and speed with which animal health information is disseminated throughout the world.

In addition, WAHIS-Wild Interface provides information about non OIE-listed diseases in wildlife. 53 infectious and non-infectious diseases to be monitored in priority were selected by OIE experts on their importance for wildlife and for early warning purpose to protect animal and human health. Member Countries provide on a voluntary basis this data once a year. This information published on WAHIS-Wild Interface is not in any case for international trade policies.

Moreover to WAHIS and WAHIS-Wild interfaces, specific pages have been created in this section to provide an update on highly pathogenic avian influenza (Update on HPAI ) and bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE situation in the world), for the convenience of immediate stakeholders and other interested parties in these important zoonotic diseases. These pages display a permanently updated situation as soon as new information is provided by Member Countries to the OIE.

Portals regarding four OIE-listed diseases of major interest, namely BSE,FMD, AI and rabies are also available in this section, providing information on technical expertise, prevention and control, events among others.